Misperceptions
by FaithinBones
Summary: Hannah thought she knew who Seeley Booth was until she had a girls night out with Brennan, Cam and Angela.
1. Chapter 1

(Season 6)

This story is AU. The idea for the story came from JAG'ed Bones in the Casckett.

I don't own Bones.

Ooooooooooooooooooo

The beer was flowing easily and the ladies were having a lot of fun. Angela was drinking a lot of club sodas, but that's what happens when you're pregnant and you don't want a drunk baby. Still she was with her friends and for the most part all was right. The little fly in the ointment was Hannah.

Angela had actually argued with Brennan that inviting Hannah on one of their girls nights out was a bad idea, but Brennan had insisted that the reporter was her friend too and she was included after all. Angela didn't want to deal with Booth's girlfriend, so she chose a different tactic to avoid having to be too chummy with her. She asked Cam to come along and was grateful that the coroner had accepted. With four women in the party, Angela felt safe enough. She was not happy with Booth at the moment and she didn't want to take it out on Hannah. Cam was there to be a wall between Hannah and Angela and for the most part it worked.

At first Cam had been surprised at the sudden request by Angela to join her in a girls' night out, but as soon as she heard Hannah was included, Cam knew she couldn't refuse the offer. She had met Hannah a couple of times, but she really hadn't talked to her for more than a minute or two. Cam was curious about Booth's new girlfriend and wanted to see what he saw in her. It also crossed her mind that she might be able to question the reporter and see just how serious she was about Booth. Cam was worried that her old friend had jumped into another relationship that wasn't meant to be. He'd been lonely and in a dangerous place while stationed in Afghanistan. It made her feel sick to think that he had latched onto a relationship that might hurt him in the end. Cam had known Booth for a long time and she loved him. The last thing she wanted to see happen was another failed Booth relationship. He was very unlucky when it came to matters of the heart and so far this didn't seem to be any better than the others he'd been involved in. It was obvious that Booth was trying too hard to make this relationship work and Cam knew that a real relationship shouldn't be that hard, at least not in the beginning.

Her own sexual relationship had ended with Booth because he'd felt guilty about using her emotional ties to him and his son to influence her into making an unwise decision during the Epps case that had almost killed her. She had always blamed herself. She was the one who overrode proper protocol even though she knew better. She never once blamed him, but Booth did and she knew that their sexual relationship had to end because of it. They had remained friends and that had been more important to her than their physical relationship had ever been. You don't throw away old friends. Now she was drinking with her friend's new love interest and she wasn't sure what she thought of the situation.

Hannah was surprisingly relaxed. She considered Brennan a friend. They had instantly bonded when they met since they seemed so alike. It wasn't often that Hannah met strong independent women who knew their own self-worth and she loved the feeling of camaraderie. Angela and Cam also seemed to be of that same mold which was utterly fascinating to Hannah. She had lost track of how many drinks she'd had, but she knew that she was starting to get drunk. So far it was just a buzz, but it was a pleasant feeling and it made her feel like sharing. Finishing her beer she waved to the bartender and asked for a shot of whiskey. That task taken care of, she started to tell stories about her boyfriend that she thought were cute.

"So we went to see a retro movie last weekend and Seeley was so lost poor thing." Hannah laughed, accepted the shot from the bartender and drank the glass empty. Placing the glass on the table, she pushed it away and placed her hands around her new glass of beer. "We went to see 'Houseboat' with Cary Grant and Sophia Loren. Poor Seeley, I had to translate when Sophia spoke Italian. I know he speaks some Pashto, but I guess he's just your typical American soldier. English is about all he can really handle."

Brennan snorted and sent some of the beer she had been drinking spraying across the table. Grabbing a napkin, she wiped her chin and mouth and grinned at her friend. "That is very amusing. Clearly you are making a joke by using a stereotype about American soldiers when clearly that doesn't fit Booth at all."

Angela and Cam stared at Hannah and both realized that the reporter wasn't joking. Hannah sipped some of her beer and turned to face Brennan. "What do you mean? I wasn't joking."

Unable to stop herself from commenting, Angela sneered and shook her head. "Boy have you got the wrong number."

Her confusion growing, Hannah took in the amused looks of her companions and knew that she was missing something. "I don't understand. Seeley isn't stupid I know. I mean he is the head of Major Crimes with the FBI, but he's clearly just average when it comes to the brains department and that's fine. It's just that some of the things he says sometimes makes me wonder how he graduated from high school let alone college."

A little shocked that someone could actually live with someone and not know that person, Brennan decided to correct Hannah about some of her misperceptions. "Booth's ancestry is one quarter Italian. One of his grandmothers was a second generation American. Booth can speak conversational Italian. He is a devout Catholic and he was an altar boy at his church. He was able to pick up quite a bit of Latin from his priest plus he took Latin in high school. When he's inclined to, he can use it in a conversation . . . true its rudimentary Latin, but he can make himself understood if he has to. Yes he speaks Pashto and I believe he can also speak some Serbian and Croat plus a few words of Somalian. Booth served in quite a few foreign posts while he was in the Army and he's always managed to pick up some of the language where ever he was stationed."

"Seeley can speak Italian . . . and . . . and Latin?" Hannah noticed Cam nod her head and she was suddenly sober. "Why would he pretend to not understand Italian? I don't understand."

Unable to keep silent, Angela leaned back against her chair and folded her arms against her breasts. "Booth is a genius at playing stupid. He likes everyone to underestimate him. I don't know why, but he does."

Cam saw the confusion on Hannah's face and shrugged her shoulders. "He has his reasons, but I don't think it's right to talk about it behind his back. Let's just say, it's a protective cover and he's been like that since he was a child."

Suddenly enlightened by what Cam was saying, Brennan finally understood what Angela had been trying to tell her for years. "It's his childhood isn't it? He learned to do that to protect himself from his father . . . Angela now I understand what you meant and I agree. Booth likes to portray himself as of average intelligence, but we all know that he is not average. He isn't a genius like I am of course, but he is very intelligent . . . yes, that makes sense."

"Well it doesn't make sense to me." Hannah was growing very frustrated. "What happened in his childhood? He had to protect himself from his father? What does that mean?"

Brennan held up her hand as if to forestall any explanations from her friends. "Booth would be very upset with us, if he knew we were talking about him."

Sober enough to recognize that Brennan was right, Cam nodded her head. "No, she's right, we can't talk about Booth. He'd be so angry with us if he found out, he wouldn't talk to any of us for a week."

Growing angry, Hannah slapped the palm of her hand on the table in front of her. "Wait a minute. You can't bring up something about Seeley and not explain what you meant. That's just wrong."

Angela shook her head and sighed. "No, it would be wrong to talk about Booth's past. He really really hates gossip when it's about him. If you want to know about his past, you'd better ask him. Yep . . . no way I want an angry Booth on my ass . . . nope."

Cam nodded her head. "Amen to that." Cam finished her beer, looked at her watch and knew that she had better go home. "It's getting late ladies. I have a daughter at home who is probably ready to call out the National Guard because I'm not home yet." Standing, Cam patted Angela's shoulder. "Would you like to share a cab with me?"

Since the night had taken a rather unexpected turn, Angela stood up and cleared her throat. "Bren I'm going to go home now. I'm tired and I'm sure Jack is wondering when I'll be home. He's such a worrier since my pregnancy began."

"I understand." Brennan smiled at her friend. "I hope you enjoy your weekend."

Angela leaned over and kissed Brennan's cheek. "I will. If you get lonely come over Sunday. You can join us for dinner. Just let me know tomorrow, so I can cook something healthy for you."

"Thank you." Brennan didn't think she would take Angela up on her offer, but she did appreciate it. "I plan to work on my latest novel this weekend. I have a scene I'm having difficulty with and procrastinating is not helping the situation."

"Well, the offer still stands." Angela grabbed her purse from the floor and turned to face Cam. "Okay, let's go."

After her friends left, Brennan sipped some of her beer and stared at the bartender who was trying to throw his shaker in the air with panache. He barely caught it and Brennan thought it would be a better idea if he just served drinks and stopped trying to be a showman.

Still trying to cogitate about what little she had learned about her boyfriend, Hannah decided that she didn't really know Booth at all. "I don't really know anything about Booth's past. I know that when he was in Afghanistan he was recovering from a broken heart. He had asked someone to start a relationship with him before he left state side and I guess he was devastated when she said no."

Her heart beating faster, Brennan swallowed and fought to remain calm. "Yes . . . I suppose that's true. The woman he asked wasn't ready for a relationship. She . . . she didn't think their relationship could work since they were so disparate."

"Oh . . . you know who he asked. Of course you do." Hannah leaned forward, placed her elbow on the table and leaned her chin on her open hand. "I think he still loves her. At least he did when we were in Afghanistan. I mean he says he loves me and I believe him, but I think he still loves her too. I think that's why he doesn't really talk about his past too much. I think it still hurts him to think about it."

Feeling very uncomfortable, Brennan shook her head. "We're talking about Booth's private life again and we mustn't do that. He is a very private person and hates when people gossip about him. I try not to do that out of respect for our friendship."

Disappointed Hannah shook her head. "You and your friends really are so protective of Seeley. He's a big boy you know. I'm sure he's been talked about plenty of times . . . plus he isn't here, how would he know?"

Wisely, Brennan knew that she had to be careful about what she said next. "I have talked about Booth in the past to someone I was dating and Booth found out about it. He was very angry and he told me so . . . I will not betray our friendship. I promised I would never gossip about him again and I have kept that promise."

Since their girls' night seemed to have come to a close, Hannah picked her purse from the floor and fished inside for her wallet. "Well, I guess I should go home. Apparently the dumb soldier I'm living with is only playing dumb . . . I think he and I need to talk."

After Hannah was gone, Brennan finished her beer and paid her bill. Not really drunk, Brennan chose not to go home in a cab. After she walked back to the Jeffersonian, she found her car in the parking garage, unlocked her car and entered it. Once she was settled and she was sure no one could see her, she leaned over the steering wheel and cried.

Ooooooooooooo

Let me know what you think of my story. Thank you.


	2. Chapter 2

(Season 6)

Thank you for reviewing my story. I appreciate it.

I don't own Bones.

Oooooooooooooooooo

She found him in the bedroom, his back propped against the headboard, a large bowl of potato chips on his lap and an opened bottle of beer on the nightstand. As per usual the television was turned to a game and Booth's attention was glued to the screen.

"You can speak Italian." Hannah leaned against the door frame and wondered what his reaction would be.

Her voice was cool and distant and Booth wondered if he was in trouble and why. "Yes . . . my grandmother Nana was really proud of her Italian ancestry. She made sure to teach both Jared and me the language and some of the history of Italy."

Since he didn't deny it, Hannah was more confused than ever. "The other night we saw 'Houseboat' and when Sophia Loren was speaking Italian you acted like you didn't understand what she was saying. I translated what she said to you and you didn't stop me."

He recalled the incident, but not the way she did. "I never claimed I didn't understand what she was saying. In one scene she was talking too fast and I didn't get all that she said. When I said what you started to translate for me. I didn't mind. I understand Italian if someone talks slowly to me. I'm not a native speaker."

"Temperance says you speak English, Italian, Latin, Pashto, some Croat and Serbian and I think Somalian." Hannah continued to stand in the open doorway staring at her boyfriend. She wasn't sure how she felt about the situation, but the man she thought she knew clearly wasn't as ill-educated as she thought he was and she found that a bit disconcerting. She had thought she knew exactly who Booth was and now she knew better. "She also says you're very intelligent . . . not a genius like her of course, but I guess above average."

Surprised that Brennan was complimenting him to others, Booth placed the bowl of chips on the bed beside him and leaned forward. "Bones said I'm very intelligent? . . . I'll be damned. She never compliments me about anything." Not sure what brought on the compliment, Booth grinned in appreciation.

"I would hardly call it a compliment." Hannah found her boyfriend's reaction to be a little too eager. "She said you aren't a genius like her, but you're very intelligent."

"Oh believe me, that is a compliment." Booth was in a good mood and appreciated that Hannah had told him about what Brennan had said. Sometimes he wondered why Brennan really wanted to work with him considering how stupid she thought he was about some things. Still if she thought he was very intelligent then maybe he had his answer. "She doesn't just hand those out, you have to earn them."

Moving slowly into the room, Hannah moved over to the bed and sat down on the edge of the mattress a few feet from her boyfriend. "Why do you pretend to be stupid?"

His smile disappeared and with it a grim expression replaced it. "I don't pretend I'm stupid. I just don't think it's necessary to prove just how smart I am to everyone I meet. Most people see a cop or a soldier when they look at me and they have a preconceived notion of what that means. If I don't correct them how is that my problem or responsibility? The people who know me . . . really know me, they know I'm not a dumb jock and that's all that matters to me." Booth felt the muscles in his back beginning to strain from leaning forward, so he leaned back against the headboard. "I didn't know that Bones thinks I'm very intelligent, so that surprises me. She's a genius . . . maybe more than a genius. She never forgets anything and I mean anything. Everyone is dumb compared to her and since she works with certifiable geniuses every day then yeah it wouldn't be wrong for her to think I'm stupid. It's nice that she doesn't though."

"You deliberately mispronounce words or question the meaning of things." Hannah was trying to understand her boyfriend, but all she saw was a chameleon. "You obfuscate . . . you let me think you were just a dumb jock." Irritated, she made quote marks with her fingers to highlight the word dumb. "Why would you do that? We're living together. You tell me you love me, but you've been hiding the real you from me. How does that build trust in our relationship?"

The sound of her voice was tinged with an icy brittle tone and Booth felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. That tone of voice reminded him too much of a father that used to use that exact tone of voice until he lost control and started to beat his sons or his wife. He wasn't afraid of Hannah, he was fully grown and feared no man or woman, but he didn't want to hear that tone from someone he thought he loved. It made him uneasy and it made him feel vulnerable. "I'm me, Hannah. I don't act any different around you than I do anyone else."

"Except Temperance." Hannah saw flushed cheeks on her boyfriend's face and she knew he was starting to get angry, but she needed to understand him. She needed to understand who she was living with. "And Angela and Cam. They know just how intelligent you are, but not me."

The stiffness of her body, the cool calculated look on her face told Booth that she was struggling to make a decision and he didn't want her to make the wrong decision. "Look I love you. We're living together. You followed me back home from Afghanistan because you said you love me. I am who am. I'm not an actor living in a play. This is my life. My real life. I work for the FBI. Do you think they hire stupid people to work for them? Do you think they would let me be the head of Major Crimes if I was a dumb ass piece of shit?" His voice was rising and he knew that he had to calm down immediately. Standing up, he felt pain shoot up his legs from his protesting feet. He had been lying on the bed too long and he hadn't given his feet a chance to stretch before he stood up.

"You want to know who I am?" Booth's voice was low, but steady. He walked over to the television, turned it off and turned to face the cold woman sitting on the bed. "Ask me anything . . . go ahead. I'm not hiding anything."

Not as cautious with her questions as she should have been, Hannah lifted her chin and stared at Booth's rigid body and face. "Did your father beat you?"

Shocked, Booth's eyes grew wide as he tried to keep from losing control of his temper. "Who told you about that? Who told you that my father beat me when I was a kid?"

"No one really." Hannah noticed the way Booth closed his hands tightly into fists. "Angela mentioned that you're a genius at playing stupid and Cam said that you've been using stupidity as a protective cover since you were a kid. It seemed like a light bulb went off in Temperance's head and she blurted out that you must have learned to do that to protect yourself from your father . . . I tried to get them all to explain what they were talking about, but they clammed up. They said they can't talk about your private life because you'd get angry with them and stop talking to them . . . "

"They had no right to talk about me at all." Booth interrupted Hannah and exhaled deeply. He knew he was on the verge of going into a fit of rage and he couldn't let that happen. He wouldn't let that happen. Standing before his girlfriend, exposed and struggling to maintain a calm he didn't feel, Booth felt the fingernails gouging into the palms of his hands. The pain reminded him that no good would come from losing control in front of Hannah. Suddenly calmer, Booth felt emotionally distant as if he was watching the scene in the bedroom from a distance. "You want to know if my father beat me? Yes, he beat the shit out of me whenever he could. He was a fucking animal when he was drunk and he put me in the hospital a few times when he lost total control. He beat my mother so badly that finally one day, he beat her and shoved her down some stairs and she was hurt pretty badly. An ambulance came and took her away and I never saw her again."

Hannah stood up and placed her hand over her mouth.

He knew that she thought his mother was dead, so he set that right immediately. "No she didn't die. She just ran away when she left the hospital. She couldn't take anymore abuse from my father and who could blame her . . . Is there anything else you want to know?"

Her throat dry, Hannah realized that Booth was too cool and calm now. His anger was gone and in its place was a preternatural state that was much worse than the barely controlled man that had stood before her just a few short minutes ago. She had thought him a chameleon earlier and that thought returned. His ability to hide himself while standing in front of her was unnerving and somehow menacing. She suddenly realized that Booth could be a very dangerous man if he was pushed too far. She didn't really think he would hurt her, but this Booth standing before her was not the happy goofy Booth she was used to. "I'm sorry, I brought it up. Your past is yours to tell or not tell."

His feelings torn, Booth knew that he had to leave for now. He was angry with Hannah and worse he was angry with Cam, Angela and Brennan. They were his friends and they had betrayed him. He needed to cool off and he needed to forgive, but he also needed space and time to deal with his emotions. "I'm going for a drive." Angry and yet under complete control, Booth stalked past Hannah giving her a wide berth as he passed her. "I won't be back tonight."

"Seeley, I am sorry that I made you angry." Hannah hated the idea that Booth thought he had to leave his own apartment. "I just didn't understand what was going on. I thought I was in a relationship with . . . I'm just . . . Do you want me to move out? Do you still love me?"

Pausing in the doorway, Booth looked back. "I love you, Hannah. I love you and Rebecca, and Cam and Bones and Angela . . . I'm not happy with any of you right now, but I still love you and I don't want you to move out." Abruptly turning, he marched stiffly out of the room, found his shoes in the living room, unlocked his gun safe, retrieved his badge and gun and left his apartment. Soon in his truck, he sat in the driver's seat and felt an unwanted tear slide down his cheek. He didn't understand why he couldn't have someone to love him unconditionally, but apparently that was just a fantasy. He had tried to be a great boyfriend, the best and yet that wasn't good enough. He had wanted his past to be the past. What was wrong with living in the present? Angela did it all the time and no one bothered her about it. Why wasn't he allowed to forget his past?

Not sure what he was going to do about his situation, he started his truck and drove away.

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Let me know what you think of my story. Thank you.


	3. Chapter 3

(Season 6)

This is a reminder that this story is AU.

I don't own Bones.

Ooooooooooooooooooo

How was it that a man with a beautiful girlfriend at home was in fact so miserable? For the life of him, Booth couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. He knew that there had to be something wrong with him, but he was afraid to look too deeply for the answers. He just wanted a simple life. Booth didn't see what was so wrong with wanting someone to love him, to want to share his life with him, but apparently that desire was more than he deserved or was going to get.

His life had started out fine. His father had been an unhappy man, but he had loved his family. Unfortunately Edwin changed as he got older and started to drink more. When Booth's father was drunk it wasn't unusual for the man to fly into an uncontrollable rage. The beatings that Booth had suffered while he was a young boy had affected him in many ways, but the abandonment by his mother had had the greatest effect of all. All he had ever wanted in his life was for someone to love him, someone to stand by his side and not to abandon him. All he'd ever wanted was for someone to share his life and he had thought that Hannah might be the one he was searching for. Now he wasn't so sure.

Love always seemed to elude him. He had fallen in love with several women in his life and that love had not been returned. He had taken that as a sign that he hadn't met his soul mate yet, but he knew, he had faith that someday that would happen.

After his brain tumor had been removed, he had had an epiphany. He came to realize that he loved Brennan as more than just a friend. He had come to believe that she was the soul mate he had been searching for, but things had gone wrong when he'd tried to get her to see him as more than a partner. That had failed spectacularly. Even though things hadn't worked out, he still thought that Brennan was meant for him, but her insecurities were just as bad as his were and she couldn't let them go long enough to give them a chance. He regretted that he wasn't strong enough to help her see that they were meant to be together and that they could have a happy life if she would just try. Though he had been crushed when she had turned him down, he knew that he valued her friendship too much to abandon her. He loved her and he accepted that he had failed her on some fundamental level that he couldn't fix. They were never going to have more than they had now and he had decided to find love somewhere else.

Booth had done a lot of terrible things in his life. He had done them because he was a real patriot and he believed in his country. He was also a student of history and he knew that blood had to be spilled to protect his country from time to time. It was the nature of the world. He worried about his immortal soul after he did those horrifying things and he had sought relief from the church as soon as he could after each mission. He was always absolved for what Booth considered his sins, but deep down, he wasn't so sure someone like him had a right to have a happy life. He loved God and most of the time he felt that God understood why he did the things he did and that the man upstairs forgave him, but sometimes he thought it was possible that what his priest absolved would not be absolved by his heavenly father when he finally died.

There were times, when the things he did came back to haunt him and those memories, those dark dark memories overwhelmed him. Mostly that happened in the dark of night after a restless sleep and it was much worse when he was alone. That was probably why he was attracted to Hannah in the first place. In Afghanistan he was training young men to track down terrorists and those miscreants usually ended up dead. Booth was passing on his dark legacy to young men who didn't realize that someday they too would wake up in a cold sweat, the memory of an enemy dying before their eyes playing over and over in their minds. Those dark memories, blood everywhere, innocent bystanders scarred from the experience. With each bullet fired, for each man he killed, there was always a price to be paid and he knew that the shooter only payed part of it. The dead man's family also paid that price and that was something that would haunt these young men just as it haunted Booth.

Once he was in Afghanistan, he had quickly realized that he should never have agreed to go back to a war zone. He had seen too much death, too much violence in his life time and he had been afraid that this time, his time in Afghanistan was going to be the end of him. With no word from Brennan, not knowing if he would ever see her again, he had tried to push those worries to the side, but they had persisted. Brennan was the reason he had wanted to be a better man, but the silence from her had weighed on him with each passing month. With each mission he had carried out he had seen the death count rise once more on his cosmic balance sheet. He had long thought that someday he would be able to balance that out by capturing murderers and making them pay for the lives they had taken. Once he was in a war zone, he lost control of what was happening to him and those deaths just piled up one by one. There was no one to tell him that he was a good man and he started to believe that he wasn't.

Hannah had come along and she had been his life preserver. She had shown him that his situation wasn't helpless. At first their relationship had been purely physical and it had given Booth some relief. It had given him someone to think about besides himself. They had found common ground and their friendship had slowly evolved into love. Booth knew that Hannah wasn't his soul mate, but he knew that he could be happy with her anyway. He had talked about a more permanent relationship with her, but she had balked. Her career came first and a state side job wouldn't give her what she needed or wanted. Hannah was a war correspondent and that meant she had to be where the wars were. It was simple and a man like Booth could see that was true.

When they separated, he still had hopes that someday they might find a way to have a permanent relationship, but he had also accepted that it was possible that Hannah wasn't meant to be his anymore than Brennan was. When Hannah had followed him home, no one had been more surprised than he was. She had told him while they were having their fling in Afghanistan that she was a nomad and she could never settle down. Booth had believed her and accepted that fact. He hadn't pushed her to change her mind because he didn't think he had the right to do so. That she had changed her mind had both shocked and delighted Booth. He thought he'd finally found that special someone that loved him enough to give up something to be with him. He'd thought he'd finally found that special someone Pops was always talking about, but now he wasn't so sure. Somehow Hannah had come to the conclusion that he had been trying to deceive her and that wasn't true.

A simple girls night out and he was now flailing once more to find solid ground. His friends had betrayed him by telling Hannah something private about his past. He had never meant for his girlfriend to find out about his childhood. He had wanted to leave that horrid history behind and to start over with someone who didn't know anything about him. Booth had loved the idea that he could start over with someone new and be the man he had always wanted to be, but apparently that wasn't going to happen. It made him appear to Hannah to be untrustworthy and Booth wasn't sure what he could do about it.

At that moment he was angry with everyone including himself. He was a weak man looking for strength in a cold and uncaring world and he didn't know how to find it. Booth wanted to live a normal happy life free from his past, free from the painful memories, but now that was gone. Hannah knew that his father had beat him and he was certain that she would leave him if given time to think about it.

Sitting in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Booth stared across the reflecting pool at the Washington Monument. He always thought of it as a finger pointing towards heaven. It was whimsy, but Booth didn't care. It was a private thought that he shared with no one. The night was chilly as it tended to be as autumn approached. The scorching summer temperatures were giving way to cool days and cold nights and Booth had had to grab a jacket from the truck before he had trekked over to the Lincoln Memorial. The statue of Abraham Lincoln sat on his massive throne behind him and Booth always took comfort from that. Lincoln had died at the hands of one of his ancestors and that tragedy was a stain upon his family's honor and yet sitting before the 16th President's image, Booth felt a peace that he didn't feel very often. He often wondered what that meant about his state of mind, but since no one knew about it he didn't have to worry about explaining it. He just knew that the Lincoln Memorial was one of the few places he could go to that gave him peace. A rare commodity in his life.

For the fifth time that night, his phone rang and then shortly afterward he was notified that he had voice mail. So far he had ignored the calls and he had refused to listen to the messages waiting for him. He had no idea if they were work related or personal, but at the moment he didn't care. He was sad, he was angry and he wanted to be left alone.

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Her phone call was once more being shunted to voice mail and Hannah was forced to leave a message. Growing frustrated with her boyfriend's refusal to answer his phone, Hannah sighed and ended the call. She had already left several messages and that was enough. Not sure what else she could do, Hannah called her friend Temperance and told her what had transpired after she had left the bar. Hannah worried that Booth was in a fragile state of mind and that he might do something foolish.

 _If you are intimating that Booth might try to harm himself I can assure you he will not do that. Booth has been through many tragedies in his lifetime, so having an argument with his girlfriend about his past would not drive him to do something drastic. Besides, Booth is a very religious man and he would never harm himself. He's probably sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial right now. He considers that his thinking place. It is one of the few places he can go to in the District that actually allows him to feel safe and at peace. Whenever he's upset or he's feeling sad he sits on the steps and looks at the Washington Monument. I think it has some kind of religious significance or at least he has intimated that it does and it soothes his mind._

Brennan's blunt assessment of Booth's probable mental status gave her some relief, but at the same time, she felt slightly insulted. "Maybe I should drive over there and check on him just to make sure he's alright." Hannah hated the fact that Brennan knew exactly where Booth probably was and why. It made her feel like a stranger instead of Booth's girlfriend.

 _I'll go. Since he is angry with me, I need to apologize to him for talking about his past. I didn't mean to, but that is beside the point. Cam and Angela and I knew better and we did it anyway. Booth is a very private man. We should have been more discreet._

"But I'm his girlfriend." Hannah found the conversation she was having to be very bizarre. "I should know about his past. He knows about mine. Why would he hide his past like that?"

 _Your childhood was happy and normal. His wasn't and I think he thinks his past is a stigma. He tries very hard to forget his past. He believes in living in the present . . . I'm leaving right now. I'll check and see if Booth is where I think he is. I will call you if I'm wrong. If he is there, I will apologize for Cam, Angela and myself. He will of course probably not forgive me right away, but he will eventually. Booth is like that. He can't stay angry with us for long. We're his family and he forgives us for our transgressions rather quickly._

The more she found out about her boyfriend the more complicated he seemed to be. Cam, Angela and Brennan were his family? She really needed to talk to Booth. There were hidden layers in her boyfriend that she had not even realized were there. Why she had thought Booth was a simple pleasantly dumb jock was beyond her. She had made a lot of assumptions and those assumptions were crumbling fast. "Okay. I'll let you handle it." She loved Seeley Booth, but the more she learned about the man the more she knew that she could never stay with him permanently. His life was too complicated and there were too many land mines in his past. She didn't want to live in fear of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. She didn't like drama in her personal life and Seeley Booth had too much of that to share.

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	4. Chapter 4

(Season 6)

A/N: I posted chapter 3 last Saturday, but FFN didn't send out emails letting anyone know. If you missed that chapter, please go back and read it before you read this one.

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She sat on a bench in the dark near the reflecting pool and watched her partner from a distance while he sat near the top of the steps in front of the Lincoln Memorial. She was too far away to see his actual face, but she recognized her partner when she saw him.

While she sat alone, she thought over the past two years and all of the drama it contained. Booth's brain tumor had surprised them all and frightened her more than she'd cared to admit. Her partner was also her best friend and the thought of losing him to cancer had made her rethink her relationship with him. She kept her promise to Booth and while he'd been operated on, she'd stayed in the operating theater and observed the operation. She wasn't a surgeon, but she was experienced enough to know what was being done and why. The surgery had been successful, but complications from anesthesia had given her another fright. Only when he was finally awake and she was able to look into his dark brown eyes did she give herself permission to relax.

Of course that had lasted but a minute when she realized that the surgery had played havoc with his memory. It had taken days for Booth to understand that his coma dreams were not real and that he was a single father who worked for the FBI. After she had been advised by Sweets that it would be better if she wasn't around while Booth recovered, Brennan had gone on a dig hoping that Booth would be fully recovered when she got back. She had used her time while away from her partner to think about her future. She had almost lost someone she loved and that had given her flashbacks to when she had been abandoned by her family as a child.

Brennan worried that she had got too emotionally close to Booth. She loved him and wanted him in her life, but she didn't like the idea that his health and well-being could affect her life. She didn't want to go through the pain of losing anyone else in her life and she tried to distance herself emotionally from Booth when she came back. For months, she was a good friend to him while he struggled to recover from his surgery, but she saw the change in how he acted around her and she feared that he really thought he was in love with her. She felt that his dreams had had an unusual amount of influence on him and that he didn't really love her at all. That love he was feeling was most likely temporary and sooner or later he would wake up to that fact and realize that they weren't meant to be anything other than friends.

Unfortunately for both of them, his depth of feelings seemed to grow stronger and didn't fade like she had assumed would happen. Eventually he did the one thing she had hoped would never happen. He had asked her to take a chance and have a personal relationship with him. It broke her heart that she had to refuse his request, but she knew that someone had to be the rational one in the situation and clearly he was letting his heart rule his brain. She felt that she wasn't really capable of returning love and the last thing she wanted to do was to hurt her friend. When she refused his pleas she had hurt him and herself and they both paid for it with strained ties. Many times she wanted to tell him that she had made a mistake, but Brennan knew that deep down she really hadn't. When Booth entered a relationship, he put all of himself in to that relationship. She knew him well and she felt that if she gave in and started a physical relationship with him, it would end in a destroyed friendship and she valued that friendship more than anything she owned in the world.

Now she was sitting on a bench in the middle of the night, watching her friend sitting alone trying to find peace in his life. So many decisions had been made by both of them without thinking about all of the ramifications and now they were both paying for it. Hannah said that Booth still loved her and Brennan thought it was possible that she loved him, but he was living with Hannah and that door was now shut to any future possibilities. She needed to continue to be the rational one in their relationship. Booth was still her best friend and she was grateful for that. She still valued their friendship and she would do anything for him. That included letting him try to find happiness with someone else. She still feared that she was too rational for any relationship she had with him to work and that Hannah was probably his best choice when it came to love.

After a while, she left the bench, walked along the reflecting pool and climbed the steps leading up to where Booth sat. "Are you angry with me?"

His eyes on the Washington Monument in the distant, Booth sighed and licked his lips. "A little."

Since he was talking to her, Brennan knew he was past any rage he may have felt earlier that evening when he found about what she, Cam and Angela had done. "We didn't mean to let the feline out of the sack, Booth. Hannah had made a comment that implied that you were stupid. For some reason, Hannah thought you were a dumb jock. I have heard you use that phrase before so I am sure I am using it right." Booth didn't say anything, so she continued to speak. "At first I thought she was joking and I was quite shocked when I realized she wasn't. Angela and Cam mentioned that you used stupidity to protect yourself and for some reason that I can't explain I suddenly realized what Angela meant when she said you were a genius at playing stupid. I blurted out something that I shouldn't have . . . Booth, we never meant to mention your past, but unfortunately we had drunk large quantities of beer, well not Angela and we didn't think before we spoke. I am sorry Booth."

He heard the contrition in her voice and he felt bad that she was feeling guilty for something that she had no real control over. He had been in groups where he'd drunk a lot of whiskey and beer and he knew he'd said things that came back to haunt him later. That was why he tried not to get too drunk when he drank. "Don't worry about it Bones. You can't make a flower into a tree. You and Cam and Angela were just being your normal selves. I'm not happy that you were talking about me, but . . . well, it's done, so it doesn't really matter."

Brennan sat down next to Booth and wanted to ask him what he meant about the flower and tree analogy, but she thought it would be best to just remain silent instead.

Appreciating her being with him, Booth hadn't realized how lonely he had felt sitting on the steps by himself. He was used to being alone and sometimes he didn't recognize that he was lonely until Brennan showed up. For many years, she had been his friend and he knew he could count on her to be there when he needed someone in his corner. The last year had been so messed up and he blamed only himself. He knew that Brennan didn't believe in love and when he had tried to pressure her to change he knew he had over reached. She had become afraid of his intentions and they had both fled to put some distance between them. He knew now that he should have just let their friendship continue as it was. He loved Brennan so much and to think he could have actually lost her forever because of his foolishness made him feel sick. He would never pressure her again. He loved her and he needed her. He could admit that to himself even if he couldn't say it to her.

Hannah was his answer to their problem and he hoped that by living with her, Brennan would no longer worry about his motives. He wanted them to be friends and he knew that eventually they would be comfortable with their new situation. "Thank you for looking for me. Sometimes I sit out here all night and I forget to go home."

"I know." More than once, Brennan had shown up in the early morning hours on the steps and reminded Booth that he had to go to work the next day. She would remind him that he needed sleep and sitting on concrete steps all night was not good for his back and hips. "You really need to go home Booth. As it is, the chilly air and the hardness of the steps are going to have repercussions. You're back and hips cannot abide that kind of abuse anymore."

"Yeah." Booth slowly stood up and groaned as the muscles in his lower back protested. "Hannah thinks I pretend to be stupid. I don't really do that you know. I just . . . . I don't do that."

Brennan knew he did do that about some things, but arguing with him was not why she had chosen to look for him that evening. She had known Booth long enough to understand that while he wasn't a genius he had his strengths and they helped balance out their very successful partnership and friendship. He was a man who used his heart more than his brain and she did the opposite. They were a very balanced team and she appreciated that fact. She just hoped she hadn't damaged Booth's relationship with Hannah. "I think Hannah had formed an opinion about you before she really knew you. She sees you as a soldier first and perhaps an FBI agent second. She has a preconceived notion of what a soldier really is and has allowed herself to buy into a stereotype. That is unfair to you and to all those that serve in the military."

"Yeah, maybe." Booth took Brennan's hand and started to walk down the steps.

Brennan allowed him to lead the way and she felt a sense of closeness she hadn't felt with him since that awful night in front of the Hoover. Perhaps their fractured friendship was finally mending. "It's a nice night. It's a good thing neither of us has to go to work tomorrow."

As he moved down the steps, Booth took pleasure in having Brennan move in sync with him. Ever since they had come back from Afghanistan, he knew he had been too gruff with his partner, but he wasn't sure how to act around her. When he had seen her that first night back near the coffee cart he had been so ecstatic to see her. He hadn't spoken to her since they had parted at the airport and when he had hugged her he had almost confessed how much he missed her and that he wanted to try to try to have a relationship with her, but he had quickly come to his senses and he had known that doing that might finish destroying their friendship. He had worried about that so much he had thrown up a wall between them. It had taken him more than a few months to realize that they could both be friends and be the way they used to be. He had slowly lowered his shield and Booth had felt their friendship was starting to heal. Tonight he felt that they were back and for that he was grateful. "I guess Hannah is mad at me for just leaving, but I needed space . . . you know."

Brennan did know. "Yes, you were angry and you didn't wish to do or say anything to ruin your relationship with Hannah. That is quite understandable. I knew that you were probably here since this is the place gives you a sense of peace."

"Yeah." They were now at the bottom of the steps and still Booth held on to her hand as they walked around the reflecting pool. "At night, the light from the city and the pool and the monuments . . . they're pretty and sometimes I need to see them. They . . . I can think here when I can't do that at home. I love this city."

Her grip tightened as they approached the steps leading to where they both had parked. Brennan loved the physical contact and she knew that in a few short minutes he was going to release her hand and that contact would be gone. "I like to sit on the bench near the coffee cart and think."

And Booth knew that. "Yeah, it's a nice spot too." Soon they arrived at Brennan's car and reluctantly, Booth finally released Brennan's hand, regretting the action as soon as his hand was empty. "Thank you for coming to find me, Bones. I'm not mad at you or Cam or Angela. I should have told Hannah about my past before now. I guess I just wanted us to live in the present. No emotional baggage, just . . . I just wanted to forget about all that crap in my past and live in the present . . . Do you understand?"

"Yes, Booth, I do." Brennan had her own emotional baggage and after twenty years of fear she thought it might be time to let some of those fears go. At least she needed to accept that not everyone that loved her was going to abandon her. Angela and Booth had been her friend for six years now and they were still together. Perhaps they would always be friends. She certainly hoped so. "I hope you have a pleasant weekend Booth."

"Thanks Bones." Booth watched his partner get into her car and drive away. As her car moved down the street and just before it disappeared from sight, he muttered, "I love you Bones, but I know you don't want me as anything more than a friend and that's fine. We're going to be okay. I promise you."

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	5. Chapter 5

(Season 6)

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The apartment was mostly dark when he arrived home. The light from the night light in the kitchen barely reached into the living room, but it was enough to keep him from stumbling over furniture. As quietly as he could, he opened his safe and placed his gun and badge inside. Afterward, he removed his shoes and walked in sock clad feet down the hallway, through the living room and into the bedroom.

Much to his surprise, his caution had been unnecessary. His girlfriend was sitting up in bed, leaning against the headboard, staring at him in the semi-dark room. The light from outside his apartment filtered in through his curtained bedroom window, so the room was never completely dark. Flipping on the overhead light, Booth placed his shoes in the closet and turned to face Hannah. "Bones found me." Not sure what else to say, he moved over to the dresser and stood in front of it. "She reminded me that sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial was going to kill my back and I'll probably feel it in the morning. She's usually right about things like that. She's a genius when it comes to stuff like bones."

Hannah stared a Booth and decided that now was a good time for them to talk. "I've been sitting here thinking about you . . . about us since you left . . . I realize that I've been underestimating you, Seeley. Since I've known you, you've been this . . . this goofy, happy boyfriend. You never want to argue with me and that led me to believe that you're just one of those happy go lucky kind of guys, but you aren't are you? You're complicated, much more complicated than I ever dreamed."

He wasn't sure where she was going, but thought he knew how it would end. "I'm not one of those guys Hannah, but I wanted to give you what you deserved. You gave up your assignment in Afghanistan for me and I didn't want you to regret it, but that guy you knew over there, that guy was only a small part of me, maybe a very tiny part of me . . . Remember, I had told you a little about me, when we first met. You know I had tried to get someone I love to take a chance on me and I failed. I failed very dramatically and that failure led to some very unwise decisions being made by both of us. I ended up in a war zone and that should never have happened. I'm too old for shit like that. I have a small son who needs me and I let myself forget that. I . . . She wasn't going to be here and I . . . I was approached by a former commanding officer about doing a stint in Afghanistan as a trainer and I agreed to do it."

Booth snorted and shook his head. Disgusted with his past actions, he moved over to the chair next to the closet and sat down. His feet were hurting and he needed to sit down. "After we'd been together for a while, I thought you and me might have a chance to be something together. I wasn't lying when I said I love you, I do. I guess you can love more than one person in this life, at least I can. That might make me sound insincere, but I was being as sincere as I can be . . . I didn't want you to know about my childhood because it's pretty terrible shit. I wanted us to have a clean slate. I . . . wanted too much I guess."

She heard the sadness in his voice and she knew that her happy go lucky boyfriend was gone. "Seeley, your past is your past, but you didn't need to hide it from me. I understand that you wanted to start fresh and you thought you could do that without your past interfering with your present, but that isn't how it works. We are all a product of our past. Did you think if I heard about your father and the beatings that I would assume you were the same as your father?"

He shrugged his shoulders and placed his hands on his thighs. "Maybe, but I can assure you, I have never struck a woman. Never. I am not my father. My father used his strength to abuse those who were weaker than he was. He beat my mother and me and my little brother. He did it when he was drunk. He never hit us when he was sober, but that didn't mean he was a good man. When he was sober he was cold and distant towards me. Once in a while he would remember that he was my father and try to do something with me because I was his son, but not because he loved me. He did it because it was expected . . . I am not him. I am not my father."

"I'm not saying you are, Seeley." Hannah saw the stiff way her boyfriend was sitting. The tension between them was thick, but things needed to be said. "As a reporter I've seen that cycle of violence over and over. It's hard to overcome a childhood like you have, but I know it's possible. What I worry about is the fact that you chose to hide your background from me. You chose to present yourself as a dumb jock when you clearly are not like that at all."

Feeling frustrated and misunderstood, Booth leaned back and jammed his hands in his pants pockets. "I love sports. I love hockey and football and basketball. I'm not dumb, but I am a jock. I have been since high school. I played football and basketball in the fall and I played baseball in the summer. I was good at football. I was so good I got a scholarship to play in college. My shoulder was damaged during a game and I lost my scholarship. For a while I didn't know what I was going to do. I was a poor kid born on the wrong side of the tracks and there was no money for college, not for me. I eventually joined the Army and I found out that I had a hidden talent. I learned that I could kill men from great distances. I could kill men with a rifle and that made me a valuable commodity to the Army. I've killed a lot of men Hannah. I've killed so many men that I've lost count." He really hadn't, but he couldn't talk about that. He couldn't talk about the looks on the faces of the men he'd shot and the instant realization that hit them when they knew for that microsecond that they were still alive that they were dead men. He lived those deaths over and over in his dreams. Those faces never disappeared from his life.

She had been right when earlier that evening she had had the sensation that the man she was living with was a dangerous man. Hannah believed him when he said he'd never struck a woman in his life, but he had just admitted that he'd killed many men in his life and a man like Seeley Booth had to be scarred by that one way or another. She had also been right when she'd realized that his past was too complicated and she didn't want to deal with those complications. "Seeley, I love you, I really do, but I'm not the person you need in your life right now. I'm just not. I'm a reporter. I see death and destruction all of the time. It's my job and . . . my personal life shouldn't overlap with things like that. I want the man I met or I thought I met in Afghanistan, but he never really existed did he?"

There it was, she had finally made her way to the goodbye part of her speech. He had known it was coming and he had waited patiently or as patiently as he could. What else could he do? "No he didn't . . . I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," Hannah swung her legs over the side of the bed so she could face him completely. "Seeley you need someone who understands who you are and are willing to share a life with you. I'm not the one. I never was."

Booth nodded his head. He had known that too. "You're moving out?"

"Yes." Hannah sighed. She had never meant to hurt him, but this was her life too. It wasn't just his life they were talking about. "I'll leave in the morning unless you want me to leave now."

Fatalistic, Booth shook his head and stood up, "No, leave in the morning. I'll let you have the room tonight and I'll sleep in Parker's room . . . I loved you Hannah." Moving across the room, he strode through the open doorway without looking back. He didn't see the point. This part of his life was now over and he had to start a new life again. He was alone once more which didn't surprise him. It never surprised him.

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	6. Chapter 6

(Season 6)

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After a quiet weekend, Brennan returned to work on Monday expecting to work on a set of bones in Storage. It had been awhile since she had worked on one of the cold cases stored there and she felt it was time to end that neglect.

While she was unloading a box of remains onto the table in one of the examination rooms, Cam entered the room and stopped just inside the doorway. "Have you heard from Booth?"

Brennan slowly shook her head while she kept her eyes on the bones on the table. Gently setting down the left ulna in it's appropriate location, Brennan decided to tell her about Friday night after everyone left the bar. "Hannah called me very late Friday night. She had asked Booth about his childhood and apparently Hannah mentioned that his father beat him. He was upset and he left the apartment. I found him at the Lincoln Memorial."

Exasperated with Hannah, Cam exhaled deeply. "Of course she did. I should have known she would talk to Booth about his father. I was so stupid. Damn reporters can never leave anything alone . . . Is he angry with us?"

As she placed her gloved hands on the stainless steel table, Brennan leaned on them and turned to stare at the coroner. "He told me he is a little bit angry. He talked to me, so his anger wasn't as great as I expected it to be."

"Well that's a relief." Cam folded her arms against her breasts. "We should never have talked about his private life in front of Hannah. It was the wrong thing to do."

"I agree and I did apologize." Her attention back on the bones, Brennan pulled out several phalanges and placed them on the table. "I haven't heard from him since late Friday night. I was going to call him this morning and see if he wanted to go to breakfast with me, but I decided to give him some space. Sometimes he needs space and time and this is probably one of those moments."

Cam nodded her head and turned to leave. Pausing in the doorway, she sighed and shook her head. "I'll call him in a little while and offer an apology. I think I'll get it over with as soon as I can. If he's going to punish me with the silent treatment, I'd rather get it over with now."

Slightly puzzled, Brennan turned her head once more to stare at her supervisor. "I was surprised he was only just a little angry. Normally talking about him behind his back can bring swift recriminations and a day or two of silence. He didn't react that way at all. I'm not sure what that means."

"I don't either." Cam shook her head. "Maybe he was going to talk to Hannah about his childhood, so maybe we just jumped the gun. Either way, I still have to call him and make sure to apologize. I don't want that hanging over my head."

After she left the room, Brennan stared down at the bones and knew that whatever Booth did when he went back home, he would have made sure that his relationship with Hannah was alright. Booth was very good at personal relationships and affairs of the heart. He understood what love was and he was secure in that knowledge. Brennan wished she could trust her feelings like Booth did, but most of the time she didn't understand what she was feeling. She never really understood why she had difficulty with the emotional side of life, but she did. Booth often assured her that if she would just use her heart sometimes instead of her brain she might understand what she was feeling better than she did, but she didn't know how to do that. She had come to realize that she should have tried harder in the past, but now it was too late. It was too late and she had to live with the repercusions.

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 _Seeley, I'm calling to apologize to you. I shouldn't have said anything about your past while Hannah was with us Friday night._

Booth had known Cam would call him sooner or later and he knew that he needed to assure her. She was an old friend and he didn't have a lot of those. "Don't worry about it Cam. I've been in the same situation. You drink a lot beer, you start to feel good and you don't think about what you're saying. You and Angela and Bones made a mistake. Don't worry about. It's all good."

 _Um, okay. Thank you . . . Would you like to go to lunch with me today. I have some free time. We haven't done that in a while._

He knew she was trying make things right between them, but he didn't want to have lunch with anyone at the moment. "I wish I could, but I have to catch up on some reports. Hacker is breathing down my neck about them. I plan to work through lunch. Thanks for the offer."

 _Okay. Let me know if you change your mind._

"I will thanks." The call ended, Booth tossed his phone on the desk and stared grimly at the pile of reports waiting for him. He hadn't been lying to Cam about Hacker and he meant it when he told her not to worry about her spilling the beans about him in front of Hannah, but it would have been nice to have gone to lunch with her. Hannah had been gone since Saturday morning and he thought he could use someone to talk to about it. On the other hand, Cam and the others might blame themselves if they heard about Hannah right now and he didn't want them to do that. His relationship had failed because he'd tried to hide his past and he should have known better. They may have sped up the demise of his relationship, but he was reponsible for the failure like always.

No matter what he did, no one wanted him and he didn't know why. It made him angry sometimes, but that didn't change the fact that he didn't have a clue why women didn't want what he was offering. It's the way it had always been. Maybe he tried too hard or he didn't try hard enough. He wasn't sure and he probably never would. Some people were meant to be alone and he was one of those. A small family and few friends. No woman seemed to be interested in a permanent relationship with him and he wasn't sure if that would ever change. At least he could count on Brennan and Cam to be in his corner. Someone needed to be.

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Angela bustled into Cam's office carrying a flash drive. She had written new software to keep track of DNA samples residing in the Lab with a simpler search method. Handing the drive to Cam, Angela smiled. "Okay, all you have to do is download the software and try it out. I've tested it, but I need someone else to make sure it works the way I think it does"

"Thank you Angela." Cam was grateful that she had a computer genius working at the Lab. Angela's innovations had increased their productivity rate and helped their solve rate improve immensely. "Oh I called Booth and I apologized for Friday night . . . He told me not to worry about it. He said that he's been in the same situation and said things he shouldn't have."

A little stunned that Booth was so ready to forgive them so easily, Angela stared in Cam in disbelief. "You're kidding. Really? That really doesn't sound like Booth. He can be unforgiving when he's angry."

"I guess we all do that more or less." Cam took the flash drive and inserted it in the port on her PC. "He just said we made a mistake and not to worry about it."

Puzzled, Angela crossed her arms against her breasts. "Maybe he and Hannah talked about his past and Booth realized that it hadn't been necessary to keep it from her. Hannah seems nice enough. I would have rather Booth hadn't brought her back here though." She was very sad for Brennan. As far as she was concerned, Booth was Brennan's property and that was final. "I had hoped he and Brennan would come back and see what a big mistake they'd made running away from each other. I guess Booth had other plans."

Cam had been disappointed when Hannah had followed Booth to the District from Afghanistan, but she had managed to keep that disappointment to herself. She loved Booth as a dear friend and she meant to keep that friendship. "Well, we'll just have to wait and see if this all works out."

"Well, I hope it doesn't." Angela wanted to shake Booth and make him see that Hannah was a mistake, but she knew it wouldn't do any good. As long as Brennan accepted the relationship, then they would all have to bite their tongues and watch to see how it unfolded. "Those two make me so mad. Why couldn't Booth and Brennan just try to be something other than partners? They were made for each other. This is just so stupid."

She agreed, but Cam remained silent. They would all have to see if Booth's new relationship was the real thing or another one of his failed relationships. In the meatime, silence was the wisest course to follow.

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	7. Chapter 7

(Season 6)

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It was odd, but Booth hadn't mentioned Hannah for the last five days and Brennan had developed a theory why. "I think he's trying to separate his private life from his public life."

Angela had been busy inspecting her salad and was trying to figure out why parts of it seemed to be missing. While she tried to get the attention of a waitress, Angela responded to Brennan assuring her friend she was listening. "What do you mean Bren? Who is separating his private life from his public life?"

Exasperated that Angela wasn't following the conversation more closely, Brennan poured a small amount of shredded cheese on her pasta marinara and sighed. "Booth, Ange. Booth hasn't talked about Hannah since last Friday. He says he's not angry with any of us, but why won't he talk about his relationship? He did before. If I mention Hannah's name, he changes the topic of conversation to something else."

"Well, we did make him mad and maybe he's just trying to keep what we did from happening again." The waitress finally arrived and Angela cocked an eyebrow at her. "Don't you find it odd that my Cobb salad is missing eggs, bacon, tomatoes, corn and cucumbers?"

Not shocked in the least, the waitress shook her head. "I'm sorry. We have a new waitress and she probably gave you someone else's order. I'll get you a Cobb salad." After she was gone with the plate, Angela turned her attention back to Brennan. "Honey, you know how Booth is. He's very private. Don't you remember we worked with him for months before we even knew he had a son?"

"But he doesn't really keep secrets from me anymore Angela." Brennan really hated some of the changes in her relationship with Booth. They were finally comfortable in each other's company and it seemed that Booth joked with her more often, but keeping secrets seemed like a step back not a step forward. Also she hadn't eaten lunch with him since last week and that too seemed like a step back. "Every time I ask him to come to lunch with me, he declines. Do you think it's possible he hates me now and he just wants to be partners? Maybe our friendship is over now and Booth is letting it die a natural death."

Angela found Booth's behavior odd, but there was no way Booth hated Brennan. "Don't be ridiculous Bren. Booth is your friend and he could never hate you. He told you he was only a little angry with you and when I apologized to him on Monday he told me it wasn't a big deal and not to worry about it. He's probably just trying to keep us from gossiping about him and boy is that failing." Her Cobb salad arrived and it looked like it was all there. "Thank you." As the waitress walked away, Angela spied Hannah entering the restaurant. Waving her hand, Angela called out to her. "Hannah, over here."

Surprised to see Angela and Brennan, Hannah walked over to the table and smiled. "Hi."

Brennan looked towards the door to see if Booth was coming too. "Are you meeting Booth here?"

Her eyebrows lifted in surprise, Hannah shook her head. "No . . . We aren't together anymore. Didn't Seeley tell you?"

Slowly shaking her head, Brennan now realized why Booth hadn't wanted to talk to her about Hannah. "No, he didn't. When did you break up?"

"Last Friday Night." Hannah found it odd that her ex-boyfriend hadn't told his partner about the breakup, but she realized that she didn't really understand what made Booth tick anyway. That was one of the reasons they were no longer a couple. Booth was very complicated and she didn't want complicated in her boyfriends. "I moved out Saturday morning. I've got a new assignment and I'm heading to Iraq tomorrow . . . I'm sorry, I just came in to pick up some lunch I ordered to go. I have a meeting in a half hour. It was nice seeing you again."

After she walked away, Angela leaned closer to Brennan and shook her head. "This is unbelievable. Booth breaks up with blondie and he doesn't tell us? Why would he do that?"

Brennan thought she knew why. "Because I believe he's sad about the situation and perhaps angry. This is the second time he's been turned down in a year. First by me and now Hannah."

"You?" This was the first time Angela had heard about this and she was shocked. "What do you mean?"

The thought of missed opportunities whirling in her mind, Brennan shrugged her shoulders. "Booth asked me to take a chance on a relationship with him last year and I turned him down."

"But why?" Angela wasn't sure whether she should be angry or just cry over the situation. "Is this why you two ran away from each other? I never did figure out what was going on. Now it all makes sense."

The image of Booth standing before her in front of the Hoover, tears in his eyes as she told him she couldn't give them a chance was ever present in her mind. "I didn't think I had his heart. I'm logical and I don't really believe in love. Booth is a heart person and I didn't want to lose his friendship when he realized that he didn't really love me. I love our friendship, it is so valuable to me . . . I've never had a successful physical relationship, Angela. They always fail because I am unable to give the person I'm living with what is needed to make that person happy and we both end up unhappy. I don't want that to happen to Booth and it would happen when he realized that I'm just not a loving person."

Angela clutched Brennan's hand and shook her head for emphasis. "Nonsense. You are not unfeeling Brennan. I've seen you cry and laugh. I've seen you sad and I've seen you be happy. You just guard yourself from being hurt. Your parents abandoned you when you were fifteen and you're afraid to let yourself love someone because you're afraid it will happen again. You can't live your life protecting yourself like that. If you do, you'll never live the life you're supposed to live. There is someone out there that loves you and we both know who that is. This thing he was doing lately, he wasn't really in it all the way. If he had been, Hannah would have known more about Booth than she did. If he had been really serious about her, he'd have talked to her about his past, but he didn't. She was just . . . I don't know, I guess Booth was looking for someone since you told him you weren't interested, but I don't think he was honest about what he was looking for . . . damn it, this is just so complicated. More complicated than it needs to be. Don't make the same mistake that Hodgins and I made. We were meant to be together, but we let pride and insecurities keep us apart for months. Someone has to take the first step, Bren. It has to be you."

Her words made sense and Brennan knew that Angela was right. Booth could have walked away from their friendship after their talk outside the Hoover, but he didn't. Their friendship had been strained and her fears had forced them both to make decisions they should have never made. She really hadn't wanted to be in Maluku, she had talked herself into it, but she had known it was a mistake at the airport when Booth had met her there. The look on his face, her fear that he was going to get killed in Afghanistan, it had all been a mistake and she had been unable to stop it from happening. Now they were back and Booth was still her friend and partner. If he wasn't going to walk away from her after all the chaos they'd been through then he never would. She knew that now. "It does need to be me." Her appetite gone, Brennan removed some money from her wallet and placed it on the table near her plate. "I need to talk to Booth."

As Brennan walked away, Angela sighed and shook her head. It was hard being a friend to someone as special as Brennan, but it was worth it. It had always been worth it.

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Let me know what you think of my story. Thank you.


	8. Chapter 8

(Season 6)

Thank you for reviewing my story. I appreciate it.

I don't own Bones.

Oooooooooooooooooo

He was in his office, so she didn't have far to look for him. Before entering the room, she studied Booth's body language. She knew she wasn't very good at picking up facial expressions or body language, but she liked to think Booth was the exception. She had spent thousands of hours in Booth's presence, whether working, eating or having fun together like bowling for jogging. Brennan felt that those hours of being in Booth's presence gave her insight into the man and what she saw was a man who wasn't very happy. Booth's shoulders were slumped more than they normally were. Though he was looking down, preventing her from seeing his whole face, she knew he was sad. His tie was a little loose at the collar and his shirt was slightly wrinkled. She knew he ironed his clothes and tried to look sharp for the job, so a wrinkled shirt was a sign that Booth might have given up on his appearance.

Sad for her friend, Brennan knocked on the door frame and waited for him to look up.

"Bones, what are you doing here?" Booth was surprised to see his partner. He had been avoiding her since the weekend and so far he had managed to elude her attempts at meeting somewhere for lunch or drinks. "Um, come in, can I help you with something?"

A little disturbed at the formal way he was speaking to her, Brennan once more felt a stab of fear run down her back. _Maybe he really does hate me._ Firming her resolve, she tried to smile and felt that the effort had failed. "I want to talk to you."

Unable to avoid it without being rude, Booth sighed, dropped his pen on his desk and leaned back against his chair. "Sure, come in . . . What's up?"

Determined to have a productive conversation, Brennan closed the door behind her, locked it, moved across the room, sat down on the chair facing Booth's desk and placed her purse on the floor. "I saw Hannah at lunch today."

"Oh." Well the cat was out of the bag now. Once more he had to play the part of a loser in front of his partner. "She wasn't happy with our relationship and decided to move out." Booth's gaze turned towards his fingernails and he stared at them intently. "Just the same old same old."

Brennan heard the bitterness in his voice and she knew that he had taken the break up badly. "I'm sorry, Booth."

"Why?" Booth continued to stare at his fingernails. "It's not like this is new or anything. I mean for some reason, no woman wants what I have to offer and I have no idea why, but . . . but it doesn't matter if I understand why or not. It's just the way it is."

"Booth . . ." Brennan floundered with what to say, but was quickly interrupted.

"No, Bones, just no." Booth suddenly became angry, but he refused to look at his partner. He didn't want to take it out on Brennan, but she had started something and he knew they both had to face the facts. "Just forget about it. I'm not good enough and I get it. My past is shit, my family life is shit, the things I did in the Army . . . I'm just a fucking piece of shit that no one wants. Just never mind. I get it."

Her anger growing with each word he spoke, Brennan finally leaned forward and slapped the palm of her hand on the desk top in front of her causing Booth to look up. "Stop it, Booth. Just stop it." She was still trying to gather her train of thought and the silence from her partner gave her a minute to think. "Why do you assume this is all your fault? Don't you think it's possible that the women you asked to take a chance on you were at fault?"

"Three women, Bones." Booth stared at Brennan and felt his anger cool just as suddenly as it had appeared. "Three women one man. It doesn't take a genius to know that what I'm offering isn't good enough."

"Well I am a genius and I think you're wrong." Brennan knew that her friend was in pain and she wanted to help him. "Rebecca was just starting out in her law career when she became pregnant. You told me yourself that she didn't want to give up her independence and marry a guy in the army . . . your words Booth . . . Hannah is a war correspondent. She too is a very independent woman and doesn't want any permanent ties. You know that. I'm not sure why she even followed you back home. She had told you in Afghanistan that she didn't want to give up her career and maybe she thought she had changed her mind, but she obviously hadn't. Now she's on her way to Iraq. She never wanted family ties with you Booth. You were just an experiment or an effort to make a change in her life. She left because of her needs not because of you."

Booth was listening, but he knew that Brennan was clueless when it came to social situations. He loved her, but he knew her weakness and this was one of them. "And you? You're independent too. You turned me down too."

"Yes I did, but not because I'm independent, Booth." Brennan felt her cheeks turning hot and it embarrassed her that she had to explain herself to Booth. She had hoped after all these years that he understood who she really was, but it was clear he didn't really understand at all. "I told you in front of the Hoover that I don't have your heart. What you are looking for in a mate doesn't exist in me. I'm logical and I don't believe in love."

"Bullshit." Booth glanced at the door and back at his partner. "Just . . . bullshit! You aren't who you think you are. You're compassionate, you feel things. I've seen it. I've held you in my arms while you cried about your mother, about Max abandoning you, about that pool of blood you thought belonged to Russ. Hell, you cried over the death of a dog. Do you really think that someone like that is incapable of love? Your heart muscle is big and it's strong Bones. You just don't see it because you have this image in your head of who you are and it's all wrong. You are so damn wrong." Booth stood up and leaned on his desk. "You're afraid to let anyone love you because you're afraid they'll abandon you some day. You think love has an expiration date, but it doesn't. At least you had parents that loved you. You have a brother that loves you. My parents were . . . well I have Pops and I have Parker so I do have people that love me just like you do. You are loved Bones . . . Max, Russ . . . me."

His words echoed in her head. _Max, Russ . . . me._ There it was, Booth had opened the door again, a door Brennan had thought was closed forever. "You?"

"Yeah me." Booth sat back down. He was tired, he was very very tired. "Do you think just because you told me 'no' outside the Hoover that I stopped loving you?" He knew it was pointless to continue the conversation, but it was almost a compulsion. He needed to speak what was on his mind, just this once. "I didn't stop loving you, but I knew you didn't want me. What was I supposed do? I couldn't make you change your mind. No one that I know of could do that. I stayed your partner and friend and when you took off for Maluku and I went to Afghanistan I knew . . . I knew Bones that I had to fix this mess and that was by finding someone else. You were afraid of me and you know it. You were afraid that someday I'd ask you again, but you shouldn't have worried about that, that wasn't going to happen. You said no and I knew that meant no and then I met Hannah. I've told you before you can love more than one person . . . I tried to love Hannah, I did, but she didn't want me either and we're back to where we were . . . Bones, we're friends, we're partners and I get that you don't want me as anything else. I understand, okay? Hannah is gone, but I'm still here. I'm not going anywhere, so let's just let this go. You and I are friends, we're partners and we'll do what we we've always done in the past. You won't commit to anyone and I'm going to give up looking. We'll just continue to do our partner thing and that's going to be our lives."

His words were harsh and filled with pain, but she had sat there and listened to every word. Brennan knew that Booth meant every word he'd said and she tried to absorb their meaning. Did he really see her that way? Was it possible that he saw something in her that she didn't see? Booth was the heart person. His gut was rarely wrong. _What if he's right and I'm wrong?_ "What if I told you that I've changed my mind and I don't want to do that?"

Booth's shoulders slumped and he felt like he'd lost everything. He knew he should have kept his mouth shut, but he thought he could make her see at least once that she was wrong, but of course she was never wrong. "Sure, okay." His gaze moved to the Bobble-head Bobby and he tried to accept her decision. "Just give me a paper saying you want our partnership to end. I'll see what I can do to get you a new partner." He was furious with himself and he couldn't blame her. He really was a loser.

"Booth, I think you've misunderstood." At least Brennan hoped that was what was going on. Bravely she chose to believe that her friend was not throwing their partnership away. "I meant that I'm saying yes now. I would like to take a chance after all . . . I'm not sure we'll be able to make this work . . . this relationship you want may be a mistake, but I'm willing to try. I just want you to make me a promise. If this ends badly and let's face it, it probably will, I don't want to lose our friendship. Can you make that promise?"

Stunned at the turn of events, Booth felt frozen in place. "Are you serious?"

Not exactly the words she was looking for, Brennan nodded her head, "As serious as a gas attack . . . no wait a heart attack. Will we still be friends if this fails?"

Almost afraid to say anything just in case it was the wrong thing, Booth cleared his throat. "I promise . . . we will always be friends . . . I . . . you want to give us a chance?"

She knew he was stunned since the conversation had taken a turn he hadn't expected, but she wasn't sure how to make him see that she was serious. Standing she moved over to the blinds on the windows next to the door and pulled them shut. Once she was sure no one could see in to the room, she turned and walked over to where Booth was sitting. Placing her hands on his shoulders, she leaned over and kissed him.

Her kiss warm and passionate, Booth stood up careful not to lose contact with her lips. Their kiss now included groping hands and their breath became ragged as their passion seemed to ignite. A sudden knock on the door and Booth jumped back, falling onto his chair.

Amused, Brennan pulled a tissue from a box on the credenza and handed it to Booth. "Wipe your mouth. Rose isn't your color."

While Booth absently rubbed the lipstick off of his lips, Brennan walked over to the door, unlocked it and opened it. "Yes, Sweets, how may I help you?"

Surprised to see Brennan standing in the doorway, the psychologist held up a folder. "I have a report that Booth wanted."

Taking the folder from him, Brennan smiled. "I'll give it to him." Slowly, she closed the door and locked it again leaving a very puzzled Sweets standing outside. With a faint smile on her face, Brennan handed the folder to Booth then sat down on the chair in front of Booth's desk again. "Are we still partners Booth?"

A sly grin on his face, Booth cocked on eyebrow and leaned on his desk. "Partners, friends . . . lovers . . . all those things if you want them, Bones. All of them."

Leaning over she picked up her purse and placed it on her lap. "I have to go back to work, but if you want to continue what we started, I'll expect to see you at my apartment tonight, Booth."

"I'll be there tonight, Bones." Booth smiled and dropped Sweets folder on the desk. "Believe it, I'll be there and we will finish this."

"Good." Brennan stood up and shouldered her purse. "I look forward to seeing you there."

After she was gone, Booth stared at the empty doorway and tried to figure out what had actually happened. One minute he was sad and miserable and the next minute he'd turned into the happiest guy on earth. Also a little worked up, he knew was leaving work early. She had started something he had every intention of finishing and that was a fact.

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This is the end. Let me know what you think of my story. Thank you.


	9. Chapter 9

(Season 6)

A/N: I had numerous requests for one more chapter, so here is a bonus chapter.

I don't own Bones.

Oooooooooooooooo

Before he went over to Brennan's apartment after work, Booth stopped by his apartment to get ready for his 'date' with Brennan. He didn't know what else to call it and there was no way he was going to meet up with her dressed in work clothes. After stripping off his tie and shirt, he did a careful shave to remove the stubble that always seemed to plague his face at the end of the day. He might be a little lacking in the hair department on his chest, but he definitely had a heavy beard. Once that was taken care of, he finished stripping and took a shower careful to wash his hair while he was in the bathtub.

Out of the tub, he primped with his hair until he was ready to shoot someone. If he had known what an important day this was going to be he'd have got a haircut that morning. As it was his unruly curly hair was almost unmanageable and there was nothing he could do about it. Cursing his luck, he entered his bedroom and rummaged in his dresser for the new pair of black jeans he had bought and was holding on to for a special occasion. The closet held a French blue shirt that he liked and once more rummaging in the dresser he found a pair of blue and black stripped socks that would match his clothes. Nervously, once his clothes were on, Booth inspected himself in the bathroom mirror and thought he looked pretty damn hot. At least he hoped he did.

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Nervously, Brennan inspected her closet and tried to sort out what she should wear for the evening. She didn't want to dress too casually, but she didn't want to over dress either. She wanted Booth to notice that she had made an effort to look good, but at the same time, she didn't want to appear to be dressing for him. She was conflicted and she was growing desperate when she laughed and shook her head. "Booth has seen me many times in all manner of dress. He has complimented me on my good taste in clothes, so I shouldn't worry about what I'm going to wear." Embarrassed, Brennan realized that she was talking to herself. "Ridiculous, you don't have anything to be nervous about."

During her shower, she was careful to shave her legs and under her arms. Once out of the shower she blow dried her hair and left it down and free flowing on her shoulders when it was dry. Satisfied that it looked like it should, she retired to her bedroom where she selected a light short sleeved maroon blouse and black form fitting slacks. The black sandals she chose were new and had never been worn which complemented the ensemble she was wearing. Dressed, she spent a few minutes searching through her jewelry box for the necklace Booth had commented about a few years earlier outside of Hank Booth's retirement home. The earrings that matched the necklace were in another box, but she quickly found them and put them on. Inspecting her image in the bathroom mirror, Brennan decided that she looked lovely and that Booth was certain to notice.

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Booth arrived at Brennan's apartment and parked across the street. The engine off, he sat in the truck and nervously fingered the wine bottle in the passenger seat. He'd started to think that he was making a mistake. Brennan didn't believe in love or commitment and he worried that she might change her mind about giving him a chance. He wasn't sure he could take it if that happened. He loved her and she was his best friend, but could he survive having his heart ripped out one more time? Was it worth it? "Hell yes, it's worth it. I have to take the risk. I have to give her the chance to give us a chance."

His breath a little ragged, Booth realized that he was close to panic. It was an unsettling feeling and not something he was used to experiencing. Rejection yes, panic no. Slowing his breathing, he practiced the things he'd been taught when he first became a sniper. He shoved his anxiety into a box to be opened later. For the time being, he slowed his breathing rate which slowed his heart rate. Those under control the feeling of panic finally left him. "Whatever happens happens." Now as calm was he was ever going to be, he opened the driver's side door, slid out of the truck, grabbed his bottle of wine and looked up at Brennan's apartment window. The light was on and he thought he saw a shadow glide by the curtained window. Licking his lower lip, Booth clutched the wine bottle against his chest and decided the next hour was probably going to be the most important hour of his life. He was ready, he just hoped his partner was.

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Brennan checked the oven and nodded her head in satisfaction. She hadn't had time to cook, but she wanted to offer Booth something to eat. She had stopped by Mama's and picked up a pan of lasagna and a pan of pasta primavera. They were both staying warm in the oven and that allowed her time to slice some Italian bread and make a salad. That done, she set the table in the kitchen. She wanted their meal to be informal and the dining room would be too formal for them as far as she was concerned.

The fact was, she was so nervous she didn't know if she would be able to eat. Her stomach was tight with anxiety and she wasn't sure why. She had trouble understanding her emotions most of the time, but this time she was sure what she was feeling was anxiety. She was anxious about what was going to transpire between Booth and her in the next few hours. Afraid she was going to make a serious mistake sometime during the evening she couldn't help but feel that Booth would see that he was wrong about her and that she really wasn't the person he thought she was.

Her stomach fluttering, which she knew was ridiculous since stomachs cannot flutter, Brennan slowly sank to the floor and calmly practiced breathing. Yoga helped her when she was nervous and at that moment she was extremely nervous and needed all the help she could get.

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Standing outside of Brennan's apartment, Booth stared at the doorknob and tried to bring himself to knock on the door. Earlier that day, he had been so cocky when Brennan had told him she would give him a chance and now he was wondering where that cockiness had gone to. Brennan had kissed him and like every kiss he'd ever experienced with her, he'd enjoyed it immensely. She was a great kisser and so was he. That had buoyed his confidence at the time, but now time was slowly tearing that down and he worried that this whole thing was going to end badly.

Angry with himself, Booth straightened his shoulders and knocked firmly on the door. He might be nervous, but he was no coward and if what they were trying to do turned into a disaster then at least he could say he tried. All he'd ever wanted was a chance and there was no way he was going to not try.

The knock on the door reverberated through the living room and Brennan's heart rate suddenly increased. The yoga had helped calm her down and the knock on the door had destroyed that calmness in seconds. Disgusted with her spike in adrenalin, Brennan gritted her teeth and marched over to the front door, bracing her shoulders back as she grabbed the door knob. _It's Booth for goodness sake._ _It's just Booth_. Opening the door, Brennan greeted her partner. "Booth, come in."

His nervousness suddenly gone, Booth saw the lovely vision of his partner before him and he knew that he'd worked himself into a state for nothing. _It's Bones for God's sake._ A cheerful smile now gracing his lips, his eyes twinkling in good humor, Booth handed her the bottle of wine. "Hey, I thought you might like this. I know it's your favorite."

The sight of Booth in the hallway had calmed Brennan immediately. She wasn't sure why she had been so nervous in the first place and now that her partner had arrived she was glad to see him. "Thank you. It is my favorite." Standing aside, she allowed Booth to enter her apartment and as he passed her, she smelled the aftershave he had apparently splashed on not too long ago and she appreciated the fact that he had shaved before he came over. "I have some dinner if you're hungry."

The tantalizing odor of lasagna in the air, Booth grinned at his partner and nodded his head. "I could definitely eat. Thank you."

As she led him into the kitchen, Brennan realized that it had been over a year since Booth had been in her apartment. She had missed the days of watching movies together, working on reports and just having a drink together after a hectic week. "I didn't have time to cook, so I bought some lasagna and pasta primavera from Mama's."

Mama's was Booth's favorite Italian restaurant and he appreciated that Brennan had remembered that. "Hey, it's been a while since I've been to Mama's. That was real nice of you to do this, thank you."

Her cheeks a faint red, Brennan kept her back towards Booth as she removed the pans from the oven. "I like her food too." Placing the pans on the stove top, she scooped up a generous portion of lasagna for Booth and a modest portion of the primavera for herself. She wasn't really hungry, but she couldn't sit and just watch Booth eat. It seemed an unsociable thing to do and she didn't want to make dinner awkward.

Once the plates were on the table, the wine opened and poured into waiting glasses, Booth sat down and smiled at the effort Brennan had made for him. "Thank you. This looks delicious."

"You're welcome." Brennan sipped her wine and wondered what her partner was thinking, what his expectations were. She had certain expectations for the evening, but she was now afraid to push them forward. She wanted to be careful and not make any mistakes. Brennan worried that her lack of social skills might sabotage their relationship before they had a chance to work out what they really wanted together.

Booth was picking up a sense of nervousness in his partner and he thought he knew why. She might be having second thoughts about them. Determined to assure her, Booth reached across the table and placed his hand over her hand. "Hey, we can take this as slow or as fast as you want to. There's no rush, okay? We've known each other for six years, well more than that if you include the first time we worked together . . . We're friends and partners and this new thing we're trying is just a new phase of our friendship, okay? There's nothing to be nervous about. I promise." Though he had been nervous earlier, once he was in the presence of his partner Booth had realized that there was nothing to be nervous about and he wanted her to feel the same way. He knew that this would work out and all he had to do was be patient. He could be as patient as he needed to be and that was a fact.

His words were spoken softly and with sincerity and Brennan appreciated that Booth was trying to assure her. She wanted to be as calm as he was, but their lives were about to change and she wanted that change to be a success. "I love you Booth."

Surprised that she could say the words to him, Booth flashed a broad smile and squeezed her hand. "I love you too Bones and not in a atta-boy kind of way either. I've loved you for a long time . . . Hannah . . . well, I guess I've been a mess for a while, but that's over. I know you're worried about this change between us and that it could ruin our friendship, but I don't think that's possible. Just think of all of the things we've been through and yet here we are sitting in your kitchen holding hands . . . That's us, Bones. We're friends first and when we move forward, it's going to be with a stronger friendship. This is the right time for us. Right now, this is the time and this is the place. I'm ready when you are and if you're having second thoughts and need some time to take this all in, then that's fine. I'll be ready when you are. I can wait. No more moving on for me. No running away for either of us. We're going to figure this out together."

"Booth, I'm not having second thoughts and I don't want to move slowly." Brennan stood up and moved closer to Booth who also stood up. "I was serious in your office. I'm ready to take my chances with you. I was nervous before you came over, but that's because I'm not very good when it comes to social interaction and you know that. I also know that you've known me for a long time and if anyone will understand me and my inadequacies then that would be you."

Booth held her hand and pulled her a little closer to him. "Whoa Bones, you don't have inadequacies, okay? You're just a little awkward about some stuff that's all. I know you're not crazy about change either, but hey this is change for the good. I love you and you love me. Any awkward stuff we can handle together . . . okay?"

His words were so assuring, so gentle and filled with kindness that Brennan knew that Booth would never betray her, he'd never leave her and that allowed her to make that final step forward. Her faith in Booth was strong and she knew that his faith in her was just as strong. Removing her hand from his hand, Brennan placed her hands of the collar of his shirt and pulled him closer to kiss him. He gladly followed her lead and soon they were in a passionate embrace trading kisses that made mistletoe kisses look almost chaste in comparison.

Breathless, their lips parted and both of them stared into the other's eyes, trying to gage how far they could go, how far they should go. Slowly, Booth separated just a bit and smiled at Brennan. "I . . . do you want to hold off on dinner or what?"

"I don't know what that means." Brennan thought that Booth was asking her if she wanted to have sex, but she didn't want to assume anthing. "I'm not really hungry, but if you are we can eat first . . . then perhaps we could retire to my bedroom and . . . and consummate our relationship."

Only Brennan would use a word like consummate and yet Booth thought that was so Brennan and so damn hot. His breath a little rougher from want for her, Booth licked his lips. "Hey if you aren't hungry then . . . yeah, we can make love if that's what you want to do . . . or we can wait. It's up to you."

Throwing her arms around Booth's chest, Brennan laughed. "Well if it's up to me then I say we make love now and eat later."

His eyes growing darker, Booth kissed Brennan until they were both desperate to move things along. Their lips parted, Booth placed his hand on the side of her face and gave her a sweet smile. "I love you Bones. I love you so much."

Abruptly, Brennan released Booth, grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the bedroom. Emotions now high, Brennan was eager to move their relationship forward and there was no time like the present to start having sex. "I've thought about what it would be like to have sex with you Booth. We both have excellent stamina, so I expect sex with you to be very satisfying."

A little cocky, Booth allowed Brennan to pull him down the hallway towards her bedroom. "Oh believe me, I have a lot of stamina. I plan to make you scream my name, Bones. Scream it so loud the neighbors will call the cops."

Entering the bedroom, Brennan released her boyfriend's hand and started to unbutton her blouse. "I'll take that as a promise Booth. Now get undressed."

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So I hope this is what you wanted.


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